Caught in the frenzy of traveling and moving from one place to the next, it’s easy to ignore the things that are right in front of me. Japan is not an easy country to understand, literally and otherwise. Discovering it however, is joy: with every layer discovered there’s even more to discover and be delighted in. Thus, the learning never stops and this continuous discovery is one of the most captivating aspects of being here. So, in honor of that, this post is dedicated to all the things that make Japan unique, all the things that proclaim, “Welcome to Japan, man!”

Vending machines It’s impossible to not notice the number of jidohonbaiki (vending machines) in Japan ”“ all 6 million of them. Something that the Japanese take for granted is a cause of amusement and amazement for the people who come to visit their country. In any other place in the world, these vending machines would be vandalized and goodness knows what else, but in Japan they’re relatively untouched. These rectangular whirring boxes are a ubiquitous source of refreshment for me during the sweltering heat I experience in Japan. And these machines don’t just sell drinks mind you; there are lots more that sell cigarettes, sex toys, condoms, and ice cream, among a myriad other products.

24/7 Another denominator on the ubiquity scale in Japan are the konbini (convenience stores); the ones you’ll see everywhere are 7-11, Family Mart, and Lawson’s. Now, I’ve been to convenience stores in other countries, but in Japan, they rival supermarkets in terms of product selection. Clean, well-lit, and open all day everyday, convenience stores are the 21st century yoruzu-ya (general stores) that cater to the single executive living alone, the hapless traveler looking for a rice ball to eat, and the students who pop by for a few dozen cup noodles to get them through exam week.

Some products that catch my eye at a nearby ampm (yes, Japan has those too) are the cups of ready-to-drink Starbucks coffee, everything from espresso to a caramel latte. Japan has no shortage of their own ready-to-drink coffees and there are plenty of those too in varying strengths and caffeine content. I’m also surprised to see a cup of Fauchon Double Rich Tea made from an Assam blend. It’s the “Double Rich” and the fact that it’s from Fauchon that makes me scoop a cup up and buy it. And speaking of all these cups of coffee, there are also hot cans of coffee, yes, hot. Apparently, there are heating machines that keep these cans of coffee hot, sort of like a freezer but in reverse. Okay, let’s say it all together now: “Cool!”

hot cans of coffee

Fast food Fast food kings like KFC, McDonald’s, and even Yoshinoya are all very popular, and dare I say ”“ very good in Japan. They are perhaps the only restaurants that have illustrated menus (thank God for overhead menu boards!) where pointing will suffice.

One day, I have breakfast in McDonald’s and am instantly enchanted by the “bread” that my sausage-egg McMuffin is ensconced in: two small pancakes with the “M” molded onto the top pancake. Sweet. I also dig the container that the mini pancakes come in, a sort of plastic-corrugated container that’s heatproof.

The Colonel in Japanese attire

Taxis and transportation Japan has the cleanest taxis and the best-dressed (if I may say) taxi drivers. All the taxi drivers I meet, even the lone woman driver I encounter, are suited up in ties, a vest and dark pants. They’re even better dressed than I am.

All vehicles are right hand drive, and traffic (vehicular and pedestrian) moves on the left side. Passengers also enter and exit from the left hand side, the door of which swings open by itself controlled by a button on the driver’s side. After a few mishaps, I get used to not struggling with the door latch as soon as we arrive at our destination.

I won’t say that all Japanese drivers are polite ”“ some are downright ornery ”“ but riding in a taxi in Japan is a pleasant experience. I just have to make sure that I have my Japanese phrasebook with me ”“ sign language and playing charades doesn’t work.

Biking is also a popular and efficient way to get around. It’s definitely not the Netherlands, that’s for sure and there’s also the very real chance of getting run over by a distracted biker. Presence of mind is key. As a funny aside, I’m told that the only things that get stolen in Japan are bikes and umbrellas. Go figure.

Japanese subway

Boo inserting her subway ticket

Tokyo has an efficient albeit terrifying subway system. Subway maps are posted in Japanese and the 12 subway lines illustrated on the bulletin boards are so complicated that they immobilize me in fear. The two times that I take the subway by myself, I use my broken Japanese to ask for directions. One wrong move and I could end up heading to Osaka. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen.

Addresses and street signs If you’ve noticed that I haven’t listed any addresses in my Japan posts, I’d say you’re observant. It’s because it’s almost impossible to do so. To illustrate, Tokyoites rarely leave home without a map to a new destination. Only the largest streets in Tokyo have street signs, and even those aren’t listed in addresses. In addresses, numbers are used instead of names, with every number representing the ward, the district, and the establishment’s number. Thus, a sample Japanese address can look like this:

La Porte Aoyama 1F-2F, 5-51-8 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku.

Confused, much?

The few street signs however that I do see are lovely and worth a photo:

in Ginza district

in Chuo district

Appearance is everything Japan has an obsession with packaging that sometimes borders on the absurd. Granted, it’s pretty but sometimes I wonder if it’s necessary. At Matsuya Ginza, a department store, I buy a simple set of two glasses. Thinking that the attendant would just shove the box into a plastic bag, I hand over my yen and impatiently wait for the change. No, the girl slowly takes out the two glasses, inspects every inch for cracks, rewraps them carefully in their protective bubble wrap, closes the box and then proceeds to gift-wrap the box before sliding it carefully into a glossy plastic bag! I’m not even aware that my mouth has dropped open. Such attention to detail causes brief hiatuses in my vacation schedule, but hey, appearance is everything.

the environmentalist in me is screaming

snug as a…

Fancy packaging is also most evident in food where even little cakes and pastries are wrapped with surgical detail. Consider this tart and cream puff that I buy at Gramercy New York, a satellite bakery of its North American counterpart. Stiff paper is bundled around the precious cargo, like a babe swaddled in a blanket, so that no amount of jarring that occurs mid-shopping will damage it. The proverbial cherry on top is the specially formulated ice packet that’s inserted at the back of the box to prevent the desserts from melting. Imagine that! Two hours in the hot sun and the pastries are still as pristine as when I left the store. Now that’s awesome.

I could swear there’s jewelry in there

Lastly, consider this three-box collection of truffles we buy at chocolate boutique, Le Chocolat de H. It’s a plush, suede tri-level box with sections that pull out like drawers to reveal the glimmering truffles inside. Notice the slim, silver medallion thick and heavy enough to pass off as jewelry. You can bet I’m keeping that and using it as a pendant.

The potty I don’t think any overview of Japan would be complete without talking about their toilets. So curious am I about all the toyru (comfort room) that I visit that I’m actually compelled to take a few photos. There are two types of (public) toilets available in Japan, the Western-style that most everyone is familiar with, and then there’s the Japanese style where the user squats facing the back wall.

toilet with controls to rival the Starship Enterprise (one of the simpler models)

Some toilets have a box attached to it with various buttons: bidet, sprinkle (light and heavy), light or strong flush, etc. Unfortunately, some labels are all in Japanese characters and while the corresponding illustrations are helpful, sometimes I can’t find the one I’m looking for: the flush. One time, I accidentally press a button that I think is the flush and I get the sound of flushing, but no flush. There’s also a button that I see which looks like it lets loose a powerful deodorizer but I don’t quite have the guts to press it. Some buttons even have a built-in heating element ”“ nothing like plopping down on a cold seat, after all ”“ and even a button that turns on music to do one’s business to.

While there are plenty of “regular” toilets in Japan, here’s one with a feature that I’ve never seen before: a faucet that turns on when the toilet is flushed. The user washes his/her hands while the toilet is flushing and the soiled water is used to fill up the toilet tank. Very environment-friendly.

Comments

a friend of mine gave me a can of sake before and it had a tab under the can that you pull to heat the sake up. it really worked. amazing. i suppose its the same principle for the coffees. the chocolate boxes look better than my packaging. that makes me a little sad. haha

How do they keep the coffee in those Starbucks cups warm, are they kept in heated cabinets? Japanese innovations are really amazing — like that flushing sound button in the toilet. I read about it years ago: Japanese women, known for their modesty, are apparently embarrassed by the sound made when they urinate. Before that mechanism came about, it was common practice to flush the toilet while they peed, sometimes repeatedly, to mask the sound…thereby, wasting a lot of water. So they came up with a way to just replicate the sound. Clever, eh? And environmentally sound. 🙂 But where they’re NOT environmental, as you said, is with the packaging excess — in many more ways than this, Japan is one of the worst-polluting countries in the world. 🙁

You’re so right about appearance being everything. Even kids’ lunch baon have to be art-directed! I pity the working moms!

The box of chocolates is calling to me… Reading your description of the saleslady’s actions while packing your purchase reminds me of the scene in the movie “Love, Actually” where Rowan Atkinson cameos as the sales clerk packing the necklace, adding potpourri, a vanilla bean, and specially shredded paper into the plastic bag. He drove the customer crazy!

japan really is something! when i went there for an exchange program years back when i was still a pre-teen, i was so thrilled on how they wrapped the goodies and candy bouquet i bought for pasalubong. i swear, i kept the wrapping paper and ribbons for years! haha 🙂

Hey Ms Lori! It’s my first time posting here but I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and I really enjoy it!

I’m really, really glad you’re featuring Japan. I absolutely adore this country, and when I got the chance to live there for a year I fell even harder and did not want to leave.:D I enjoyed the food a whole LOT but most of all I miss the place…

Anyway, since I did not get to go to Tokyo (I was too busy studying), I’m just glad that you’re featuring it and the places around the area in your blog. When I go back to Japan, I’ll definitely keep some of these places in mind.:D

I hope you’re doing a feature on Osaka too. I lived there, and it’s got the BEST food in all of Japan, in my opinion. They don’t call it Japan’s Kitchen for nothing.:D

it’s funny to hear that someone feels the same way I feel about the subway system in japan. being a new yorker, i am a seasoned subway rider. i’ve been to london, paris, madrid, and even took a long train ride in italy where i had to transfer to 4 trains….it was all a breeze. japan is a category by itself. but by the 2nd day, it was alright. (but we had the maps with us the entire trip….for double checking).

My first attempts at navigating Tokyo’s subway system were a nightmare. Nearly EVERY MORNING on my way to school I’d have to ask some weary salariman if I was on the right train. But once I got a sense of where each line went, I could branch out a little more. Never did stop carrying my fold-out, full-color map, though.

McDonalds is actually worth eating in Japan! As the only place where I could get affordable beef or ANY pancakes, I went there whenever I felt homesick, but the prices made me feel as though I should be eating better food.

The first time I bought a heated can (hot chocolate), I nearly dropped the thing; I saw the kana for “hot” on the button but thought nothing of it. Imagine how happy I was to find out I could get hot cocoa virtually anywhere during the winter!

That box for Le Chocolat de H is beautiful. I hope the chocolate tasted as good as it looks?

And I love how they wrap everything so carefully, although it does feel super excessive. -__- I can’t think of any other place that pays so much attention to detail.

I remember pushing a somewhat random button in a toilet stall in Japan once, triggering some loud flushing noises to mask the noises of…you doing your business, I suppose. I was kinda freaked out by that. “MAKE IT STOP, OH GOD WHY WON’T IT STOP?!”

Hi Lori, Have always wondered when you were coming our way & boy was I surprised to learn you were in my neighborhood.

I returned from 5 weeks of vacation in the Phil- travelled quite a bit to Bacolod, Puerto Galera & Manila to visit with family & friends- a month ago exactly & am still having the return to Japan blues………. THANK YOU SO MUCH for reminding me of my blessings.

Just had Mickey D’s EbiFuri yesterday- it’s a shrimp burger with the everpresent shredded cabbage. You have to try it before you leave. It’s the only thing I eat at Mickey D. Glad you are enjoying yourself. Much to explore. Have fun !!!

thanks for this – these are precisely all the things that i have taken for granted in the 17 years that i have lived here in japan. you write so well that you managed to capture my interest even though these things are part of my daily life. p.s. please give our regards to yappi (from james and donna)

hi lori, been a reader of your blog for quite sometime now and what perfect timing than this. I remember buying a piece of a similar strawberry cake in Shibuya in oct 22 ’05–it was my bday and my flight back home. Even with just a slice, it was beautifully packed and yes, with that ice packet. it endured the flight and it still looked as if i just bought it. 🙂

next week i’ll be leaving for tokyo again and thank you for this post, i’ll try to explore and experience something different this time. i’ll be looking for an okonomiyaki to try. (where was the restaurant located anyway?) i’ll probably look for that Le Chocolat de H too and be in chocolate heaven.